Creating and maintain the appropriate acid balance in your stomach is a hugely important yet challenging task. When acid imbalance is prolonged, it may result in unhealthy absorption and digestion within the GI tract. It's important for stomach acid to be in balance not only because it helps us break down and absorbed nutrients, but it creates a much-needed and important barrier to invading organisms.

Hydrochloric acid (HCL) is naturally secreted in the stomach in order to digest food and be absorbed into the bloodstream. Stomach acid is secreted from parietal cells, which are in charge of making HCL, This highly acidic environment helps to break down proteins, and activate digestive enzymes.

A normal function of the parietal cell can be affected by different factors such as chronic inflammation, stress, or free radical activity. They can also be damaged by the overuse of antacids. When HCL is low the food in the stomach is not digested quickly, and therefore the food lingers longer than it's supposed to, resulting in fermentation and the increase of the wrong type of acid.

Balanced HCL levels also help to destroy organisms swallowed in for (preventing parasitic infection). Therefore, having low stomach acid carries an increased risk of yeast, mold, and bacterial infection - invaders that don't belong in the GI Tract.